The objectives of this project are (i) to assess the mechanisms by which the promotion of tobacco encourages use of tobacco and thereby contributes to related morbidity and mortality, including an estimated 30 percent of all cancer deaths; an (ii) to examine the policy issues surrounding a national ban on tobacco promotion. The traditional concern about the influence of tobacco promotion has focused on the impact of cigarette advertising on directly enticing young people to initiate smoking habits and existing smokers to continue to smoke. An often-cited related influence is in advertising's contributing to a social environment in which smoking is deemed acceptable and even desirable. A second and indirect mechanism is the impact of the media's dependence on cigarette advertising revenues. The threat of loss of essential revenues, it is argued, has encouraged editors and publishers to restrict coverage of smoking and health, to avoid it when possible and to "tone it down" when not. The critics of the media's self-censorship occasionally have alluded to the health implications of the resultant lack of coverage. No one, however, has effectively combined understanding of his sefl-censorship phenomenon with scientific understanding of the determinants of smoking-and-health knowledge and its impact on smoking behavior. Through a careful review and interpretation of the literature, the steps to be traced and integrated are: (i) the impact of advertising on media coverage; (ii) the effect of media coverage on consumer knowledge and attitudes; (iii) the effect of knowledge and attitudes on behavior change; (iv) the impact of behavior change on health. Regarding a national ban on tobacco promotion, the research will examine the historical context, both within and outside of the U.S.; the diverse policital, economic, legal, and philosophical issues; and the likely effects on tobacco use and hence disease. Consideration of the issues will include rigorous assessment of the empirical, largely econometric evidence on the effects of cigarette advertising on consumption, as well as philosophical examination of qualitative issues (e.g., freedom of expression through advertising versus the public's right-to-know).